Heroic Richardson much loved despite his flaws
Martin Blake | April 21, 2007
The Age
AT 6.30 last night, more than an hour before they bounced the ball in the Richmond-Western Bulldogs game and even before the official warm-up, Matthew Richardson was out on the ground having potshots at goal with just a bunch of kids for company.
A week earlier, the beloved Richo's slipshod performance in front of goal had cost Richmond dearly against Collingwood. Here was a chance to get some first-hand practice, and with no pesky opponent to remind him of his frailties in the vicinity of the big sticks.
Richo is the Tigers' favourite son (most of the time, anyway), and the most potent symbol of the club. But Richmond is in an era when even its best player is a flawed jewel, and is yet to find a path out of it.
In an outstanding career, he has kicked 700 goals, one of only 19 men in league history to do so. But unless he can become part of a great Tiger resurgence in the next couple of years, he will pass from the game without a flag. Sadly, there was no evidence last night that the Richmond premiership drought, stretched now beyond a quarter of a century, is any closer to breaking.
Richardson had Brian Harris to mind him last night. But in the opening minutes, he was starved of opportunity. When the ball did come inside Richmond's 50-metre zone, the Bulldogs had plenty of brave souls willing to fill the space in front of him and provide Harris with some support.
Twenty-one minutes into the first quarter came a classic piece of Richo. Marking on the lead at just beyond 50 metres, he proceeded to run too close to the man on the mark and missed to the left. Richo has been running too close to the man on the mark for his whole career. Not even a host of coaching and mentoring and cajoling and criticism in this professional era has changed it.
A few minutes later, he was given a gift when Harris was penalised for a block, and at 23 minutes, his contested mark, tumbling forward in front of Harris to collect a centre break brought him his 700th goal. Only Matthew Lloyd of current players is ahead of him.
The record speaks for itself. Whatever his faults, Richardson has been an outstanding if not great player. The flaws only make him more loveable, although they test the patience of the Tiger hordes.
In any event, the statistics say he is only fractionally more inaccurate than most key forwards, hitting the target at 60 per cent. Lloyd's conversion of about 70 per cent is almost unprecedented, so it is plain that Richo's inaccuracy has been overstated because his misses can be so bad.
Last night, he kicked 3.2 and hoofed one out on the full from long range. Harris handled him well, although the Tiger veteran's work-rate was sensational as ever. The game was won and lost elsewhere.
Richmond was only rarely in the game, failing to apply sufficient defensive pressure against a hard-running team such as the Bulldogs. There were exceptions — notably Joel Bowden, who took on the tough task against Brad Johnson and performed heroically — but overall, the Tigers' intensity was not what it has been.
They played like a team that has forgotten how to win. At 0-4, the season is close to a write-off, and they have West Coast next weekend. Now there's another reality check.
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